Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: a Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris

Sedaris borrows from the traditional Aesop’s Fables format in Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk to comment on the trials and tribulations of modern life.  Each story features anthropomorphic animals who offer brutal insight and occasional moral lessons on life, society, and relationships.  The dark, sadistic humor of the fables won’t leave you feeling warm and fuzzy but the stories are certainly entertaining.  This collection may not be as good as Sedaris’ biographical essays but will still appeal to fans of humor writing.

Listen to a fun interview with Sedaris about Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk from NPR.

Kimberly

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger

This literary graphic novel by the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife is the first volume of a larger series called The Library.  The novel follows the story of Alexandra who discovers a bookmobile on a deserted Chicago street late one night.  The bookmobile contains every book she’s ever read and Alexandra obsessively devotes the next several years to reading and to searching for the mysterious bookmobile.  The true gem of this novel is Niffengger’s pen and ink drawings which beautifully evoke Alexandra’s eerie and solitary world.  In my opinion, the ending was a little more somber than I would have liked, but Niffenegger tells a gripping story that both celebrates the power of the written word and warns against living our lives entirely through books.  This is a short, charming read for book-lovers.

Kimberly

The Night Bookmobile